The following day found everyone on the island working furiously to prepare for the coming of the gaunts. They had listened quietly as Lanek had explained the growing number of gaunts that had been chasing them and why they had needed to stop and face the monsters. He hadn’t been surprised to see the looks of despair and resignation on the faces of some people, but he had been shocked to see just how many of them had steeled themselves for the coming battle. Lanek suspected that it had something to do with having a new lease on life after being freed from the misery and certain death of being a prisoner of the trolls.
A handful of people had objected quite loudly when Lanek laid out the training plan and how everyone aside from the children needed to participate. However, those people were quickly cowed by their peers. It seemed like most of the former prisoners understood the necessity of getting a combat class and being able to defend themselves. They knew that they were in a precarious situation and would have to shoulder some of the burden.
Lanek sighed as he made his way around the edges of the island, scattering the seeds that would make the foundation of their fortifications. I don’t think they know how precarious the situation really is… Considering the number of gaunts behind us, Liv and I could probably deal with a lot of them, maybe even all of them, but not while protecting non-combatants. It’s inevitable that gaunts will get in close and these people need to know how to keep themselves alive.
If he were being completely honest with himself, he also had ulterior motives. Primarily, he wanted to bulk up Caelis’ fighting strength with as many of these people as possible. He already knew that the orcs were planning on returning to Caelis with him, but no one else had made their decision known aside from Duristor. Another reason for the training was that Lanek didn’t want to dump a lot of dead weight on the villages in Liv’s homeland, they were likely struggling enough considering the state of the world.
He was also very worried about the behavior of the gaunt horde following them. They were acting contrary to his experiences so far in that they would typically charge at their prey immediately. Waiting for reinforcements struck Lanek as something that would require one of the evolved forms, something beyond the chargers, bulwarks, impalers, or gliders that he had seen in the past. Maybe even beyond the assassin that he had interrogated and hadn’t been able to [Identify] even after he killed it. Lanek was very concerned that something like the magic user that had blown holes in Caelis’ walls and decimated entire blocks might be leading this force.
Sure, I’m stronger now, but I still don’t know if I’m strong enough to take one of those things down. I don’t even know what level it was. I need more information, but I will NOT risk Pharaoh, the furballs, or any of our hunters by asking them to get close enough to the horde to identify a leader.
Lanek gazed over the island and was happy that he wouldn’t need to expend any energy on shelters as the grove of trees that grew here provided plenty of shelter from the elements for now. Unfortunately, the trees didn’t grow very close to the river banks, so he wouldn’t be able to incorporate them into the fortifications.
Oh well, at least I have plenty of mana to work with. Lanek thought as he brought up his attributes.
Name: Lanek Solvinsson
Species: Dranrid (Purestrain)
Class: Binder of Souls [Unique]
Titles: Khan of The Hordefather (Caelis), Jarl of the Great Bear (Caelis), Herald of Eldros [Unique], Chosen [Nature][Legendary]
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HP: 2,430/2,430
MP: 2,380/2,380
Attributes:
STR – 249 (368)
CON – 367 (486)
DEX – 422 (541)
PER – 369 (491)
RES – 462 (584)
SPI – 476
Lanek smiled in satisfaction at the rate with which his attributes were growing thanks to [Ethereal Empowerment] and [Blessing of Health]. Just by increasing his spirit attribute he could increase every one of his stats now. Unfortunately, after spending hours scouring the shop, he finally had to admit defeat. The skills available to his class did not include anything that could boost spirit when he boosted other attributes, so that either wasn’t possible or it belonged to a different class type. Probably priest, paladin, or something like that.
With a deep breath, Lanek dropped the last of the seeds needed for the foundation of the wall and reached out with his mana. The first portion of the wall would only be about knee high at first since Lanek was more concerned with the framework at this point. The wall would circle the entire island and be anchored into the riverbank itself with the only openings being at the crossing. For such a large structure, he suspected that he wouldn’t have enough mana to do much more than a short wall in his first go, especially since it needed to be anchored deeply to stand up to the gaunts for any amount of time.
As he worked, he changed his initial plan and left another opening in the wall on the opposite side of the island from the crossing to give his people easy access to the water. He figured he could fill that gap later on when the attack was actually on its way or leave it open as a potential escape route if things went sideways.
Several hours passed before Lanek stopped working as he completed the knee high wall. He was staring dumbly at his status screen, shocked that he had only used a few hundred mana to complete this much of the wall. I knew that the new gear would help me with conserving mana, but not this much!
Lanek laughed at the thought of what he could get done that very night, so he only took a few minutes to get a bite to eat and check in on everyone else. The children had taken to their task of finding him seeds with gusto. Apparently, Liv assuring them of the importance of the task had made them take it very seriously and he doubted he would be running low any time soon judging by the large pile resting next to his bedroll.
Liv had used her axe to clear an area of the island for training, her attributes and the nature of her weapon allowed her to make short work of the vegetation. Now, she had joined Duristor, Garik, and the rest of the warriors as they ran the people who weren’t actively fishing or making fish traps through drill after drill. The people fishing would get their turn to train when a few of their peers managed to unlock their classes, but Lanek had no idea when that would occur. How long does it take to unlock a combat class? I’ll just leave it to the expert for now, but I do need to learn that stuff eventually.
He returned his attention to the wall, a new idea taking shape. Reaching for his mana once more, Lanek coaxed long thorns from base of the wall until a small palisade of thick thorns extended out at an angle and reached about waist high. After the palisade was in place, Lanek pushed the wall even higher, until it was half a meter taller than he was and its entire outward facing side was absolutely covered in thorns.
Lanek was under no illusions when it came to the strength of the wall. A gaunt bulwark would tear right through it, but by making it as tall as it was, he was hiding the activity in camp and preventing his people from getting picked off if a ranged gaunt variant showed up. Although, he had yet to meet a ranged gaunt aside from the magic user, so he wasn’t even sure they existed, but it was better to be safe. The thorny layer wouldn’t do much to an evolved gaunt, but he was hoping that the sight of the thorny wall would make the gaunts focus on the crossing rather than attempt to flank their position.
He had considered sealing them in entirely, but he didn’t want to spread his people out too much by stationing them all along the wall. No, he wanted to funnel the gaunts through the crossing and into his concentrated forces where everyone could potentially get a shot at some experience and levels.
As he walked toward his bedroll while the sun set and the campfires were being lit, Lanek was exhausted. He had about a third of his mana left, but focusing on the wall for hours on end left him mentally and physically drained. However, despite his exhaustion, he had a grim smile on his face as he saw the progress he had made and at the thought of a few other little surprises he had in mind for the gaunts.